Patients who sustain a new, traumatic SCI in Canada are part of the Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry (RHSCIR) if they are in one of the 31 facilities in our network. These reports use the Registry to help you understand how your patients compare to those across the country, and how they change over time. These documents can be powerful tools for education, advocacy and research.

The dashboard report, part of which is shown above, is a snapshot of your patients' demographics, length of stay and discharge information is available here with the login information sent to your site coordinator and primary investigator. You can take a look at the RHSCIR special report, which gives a general summary of this type of information in the registry.

There are some topic specific reports on pressure ulcers, neurology, the Spinal Cord Independence Measure as well as standing and walking. This is what you might find, for example, in the standing and walking report:

This gives you some great information about how, on average, the patients improve in their standing and walking at your facility, and nationally. If you want to learn more about the standing and walking measures and staging, click here.

Here are some frequently asked questions about the reports:

Why are you creating these reports? RHSCIR is a powerful research tool, used by Canadian and International experts alike. Until the latest update of the registry, however, it was focused on research only. With the addition of the clinical questions and forms you'll read about on this site, RHSCIR is moving toward becoming a tool that can be used on a regular basis to improve care.

Who are they for? They are for clinicians and administrators who are involved in working with spinal cord injury at the RHSCIR sites. You can also see the reports for the partner sites with your facility in many cases (i.e. the partner rehab facility to your acute facility).

What can I do with them? They contain succinct, actionable reports in each of the clinical areas discussed on this site. They can be used for:

Education for staff

Education for patients

Spotting areas of excellence and deficit to focus on

To align with Accreditation Canada requirements

Analyzing resource use

What if they don't contain the information I am looking for? It is the goal of the Rick Hansen Institute that the information in RHSCIR be used to make care better. Please contact clinical [AT] rickhanseninstitute [DOT] org and we will do our best to help you.

Why aren't they posted publicly? The reports are password-protected because they contain data that belongs to each facility. Access is limited to those people that the principle investigator for RHSCIR at each site, or their designate (often the Local Site Coordinator), allows to access it. If you work at one of the participating hospitals, and would like access, please contact your local site coordinator. If you are not sure who that is, please email clinical [AT] rickhanseninstitute [DOT] org.